Pateick ii



(no Model.)

P. H. DUKE. Plug Tobacco.

No. 231,022. Patented Aug. 10,1880.

X ATTORNEYS.

N.PE|ERS, PHOTDJ-ITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D O.

UNITED STATES PATENT OrricaEo PATRICK H. DUKE, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, ASSlGNOlt TO THOMAS C. I VILLIAMS, OF SAME PLACE.

PLUG-TOBACCO.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 231,022, dated August 10, 1880.

Application tiled May 25, 1880.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, PATRICK H. DUKE, of Richmond, in the county of Henrico and State of Virginia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Plug-Tobacco; and [do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is an isometric view of a series of cross-piled plugs forming the bulk as contained in the caddies. Figs. 2and 3 are respectively an edge and face view of the platesinterposed between the plugs to give them the shape described.

In the manufacture of plug-tobacco various means for applying a trade-mark to the plug and for spacing the plug into aliquot parts to facilitate the retail of the same have been heretofore employed. Thatmethod most generally approved is toimpress thedistinguishing marks into the body of the plug during the process of manufacture. Incident to the employment of these plans, however, are certain objections, prominent among which is the incompatibility of a transverse spacingmark with the cross-piling of the layers in the caddies, the said marks or indentations forming air-channels through the tobacco which give lodgingplace to mold.

My invention does not contemplate the employment of letters on the plug, but relates more particularly to the use of spacing-marks; and its object is to secure the division of the plug into aliquot parts, which effect the spacing of the tobacco in such a manner that the plugs, when cross-piled, fit together to make an absolutely com pact and solid mass in the caddy, without any of the air-channels before referred to.

To this end the improvement consists in impressing the faces of each plug with a set of checker-board squares, one set of which is raised, orin relief, and the alternate set sunken, by which arrangement the spacing of the plug into aliquot parts is effected, and the layers, when fitted in the caddies in cross-piles, fit solidly together, with the raised squares of one plug resting in the sunken squares of the plugs at right angles in the next layer, and vice versa.

No model.)

In the drawings, A A A A represen t four plugs of tobacco juxtaposed so as to form one layer of plugs in the caddy. Each oneof these plugs, it will be seen, is formed with a surface of perfeet squares whose sides, as shown, are equal to half the transverse dimensions of the plug. One set of these squares is raised, or in relief, while the alternate set is sunken, and the line a; y constitutes the spacing-line for the knifein cuttingoffan equal quantity each time.

B represents the first plug of the next layer, which is to be placed on the first layer at right angles. This plug B is shown near its position, and when turned over and placed in position on the first layer its raised square a fits into the sunken square a, its sunken square I) fits over the raised square b, its raised square 0 fits into the sunken square 0, its sunken square d fits over the raised squared, and so on throughout the plug. It will therefore be seen that the layers, when crossed, fit compactly together, making a perfectly solid mass in the caddy, without any air-channels or crevices and without any liability to mold by reason of the latter. This arrangement, it will be seen, not only effects the spacing of the plug into transverse parts, but also gives a line for further subdivision. Thus, ifthe plug weighs a pound, and sixteen squares are formed therein, as shown,the lineof cross-section will cut off two squares constituting two ounces, and each of these pieces is marked for further subdivision into ounce pieces.

The merit of my invention, or that which gives value to it, is the form of the perfect squares, whose symmetrical sides find a perfect coincidence whether laid longitudinally or atrightangles, and which fit compactly against the sides of the caddy.

It is not necessary that two rows of the squares should be used, as shown, for in makin g narrower plugs, or plugs of the same width but thinner, the sides of the squares may be equal to the width of the plug. The alternate recurrence of the raised and sunken squares, however, is a necessity.

The mode of giving to the plugs the surface described is similar to that heretofore used for marking tobacco with indentations-i. 6., the lumps are packed with alternate plates 0,

having corresponding die-faces and pressure applied.

For the two outside layers the plugs are impressed only on one side, so as to make the outer faces of the bulk fit closely in the caddy Without air-spaces. The plugs throughout the body of the caddy, however, have both faces pressed into the squares.

In defining my invention more clearly with respect to the prior state of the art, I would state that I am aware that it is not new to pack plugs of tobacco in cross-layers, so that a raised dcviceon one setof plugs enteredacorrespondingimpression in the set of plugs forming the next layer. This arrangemei'it, however, was not adapted for and had no relation to the spacing of the plug into aliquot parts.

I am aware, also, on the other hand, that a plug of tobacco has been impressed with at ternate panels and indentations, which to a certain extent effected the spaein g; but no construction or form of panel has ever been suggested as would permit of the cross-piling of the layers so as to leave no air-spaces either in the body of the caddy or at the edges, as in my case.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is Apackage of plug-tobacco having the faces of its plugs formed into perfect squares, one set of which is raised and the alternate set depressed, with the raised and sunken faces of one layer or set of plugs fitting into and over the sunken and raised faces of the crossed piled plugs forming the neXt layer, substaniially' as described, and for the purpose herein set forth.

The above specification of my invention signed by me this 17th day of May, 1880.

PATRICK HENRY DUKE.

Witnesses:

EDWD. W. BYRN, SoLoN U. KEMON. 

